On 1 April 2022 Miguel Cardo (pictured left) ended his nine year term as Codex Contact Point (CCP) for Portugal. Before handing over Miguel shared his experiences. What did you know about Codex when you started working as CCP? My first Codex meeting as a national delegate was during the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2007 in a food hygiene meeting in New Delhi, India. It was a big challenge, a new world for me, which forced [...]

The Codex Trust Fund supports more effective engagement of developing and transition economy countries in the Codex system. Participants including government officials, private sector, academia and consumer groups from El Salvador and Guatemala took part in a web training on 15 and 17 March 2022 to learn from neighbouring countries in the region, Chile and Costa Rica, good practices for efficient management of a Codex Contact Point. Read the full story on the Salvadoran Technical Regulatory Agency OSARTEC website Learn more about the [...]

International Women’s Day 2022 calls for a world “free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.” The Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CFH52) will adopt its final report on Wednesday 9 March 2022. The food safety standards featured at this session include guidance on management of biological foodborne outbreaks; guidelines for the control of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in a range of foods; an approach for the [...]

The Codex Committee on Food Hygiene has finished work on a new guideline on microbiological foodborne outbreaks which provides countries with a structured approach to preparedness and management for when an outbreak takes place. The contamination of food may occur at any stage, from primary production through to the consumer, causing illness and in some chronic cases serious health effects or death. An outbreak may be swiftly identified at a particular event or source but may also be much harder to [...]

On Tuesday 15 February 2022, Diego Varela, Vice-Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, visited NotCo, Chile, to learn at firsthand how plant-based products are created. NotCo was established in 2015 and aims to make plant based food look, smell, taste and function like animal based ones. The company uses artificial intelligence to decide how to combine plants to replicate the flavour and texture of animal products whilst maintaining their taste, feel and function. Diego Varela (left) talks to NotCo staff during [...]

by Nolene Naicker There were two main principles that guided me when I left school: I wanted to make a positive change in the world and wanted to work with people – something I am passionate about. I have family members who suffer with diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. I wanted to do something that could make living with these challenges much easier. `Dietetics` - the science of using the right food to treat illnesses - seemed like the way to go. My [...]

This edition of the Codex podcast highlights how important data collection is for risk analysis. We talk to Dr Tim Barkham from Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore who was one of the expert contributors to a recent FAO publication on the risk to human health posed by a strain of Group B Streptococcus, GBS ST283. When, in 2015, over 140 people in Singapore fell ill, investigations led scientists to this bacterium, found in freshwater fish in and around Southeast Asia. The [...]

A new WHO Food Safety Community of Practice (COP) will help share knowledge and improve practice on food safety issues. The peer-to-peer online knowledge forum will serve professionals globally who want to improve food safety throughout the food value chain, who seek to deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area and who wish to exchange information and discuss ideas by interacting on an ongoing basis. The COP aims to expand learning potential, share diverse experiences and knowledge, encourage an understanding of [...]

It is true to say Codex never stops and although all committee sessions have finished for 2021, a training course on international standard setting and the Codex Alimentarius, part of a Codex Trust Fund (CTF) group project involving India, Bhutan and Nepal took place from 21 to 23 December 20221 in Dhulikhel, Nepal with participants from Bhutan joining virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. The three-day meeting included a simulation exercise where participants gained insight into the management and process of a [...]

The Codex Trust Fund (CTF) supports countries to build strong, solid and sustainable national capacity to engage in Codex work. The Codex Trust Fund Advisory Group annual meeting took place online on 16 December 2021, hosted for the first time by the newly-elected Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Steve Wearne, United Kingdom. The Advisory Group is part of the Codex governance mechanism and brings together FAO/WHO, donor countries other key stakeholders including the Codex Regional Coordinators. It serves as a forum [...]